1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for food processing, in particular for the processing of pasty foods for the purpose of forming shaped items such as balls, sausages or the like. The invention also covers methods of forming individually shaped items of such pasty food.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known in the prior art to produce meatballs from a continuous supply of meat paste. The meat paste may be supplied by a conventional dosing pump, which feeds the product to one or more dispensing heads. At the head, a valve or knife periodically cuts the flow of paste into individual lengths, which may then drop into hot water for cooking or may be subjected to any other further treatment as required. A device of this type is known which uses an iris type diaphragm valve to cut the paste. The construction of the valve is complex requiring a large number of moving parts. For use in the food industry such a construction is particularly inconvenient since the cleaning of the valve is complicated especially for non-technical personnel. The valve is also bulky, making the use of multiple outlet/valve combinations virtually impossible.
Other devices are known having a plate with an outlet through which the paste can be forced. A second plate having an aperture complementary to the outlet moves across the first plate to periodically open and close the outlet and cut the supply of paste. These devices effectively cut the paste into individual lengths but are not designed to form it into a desired shape. Such devices also suffer from a number of drawbacks; in particular, the cutting action of the plates is not optimised and causes skewing of the meatball prior to it dropping. Such devices are also not adapted for use with a number of outlets, since variation in delivery pressure between the outlets may lead to considerable product variation.
Food industry standards are increasingly high and food producers require processing machines that deliver well-formed products of consistent dimensions. There is also a need for an improved arrangement that is easy and hygienic to operate and can be assembled quickly and correctly even by unskilled personnel.